Day three (Sunday, August 9th!) of the Music Series will feature the rambunctious pop stylings of The Bicycles, who were named “Toronto’s most crush-worthy outfit” in a feature article on Toronto’s music scene by Spin Magazine this spring, and Hamilton, ON’s Young Rival, who’ve toured to acclaim with Born Ruffians.

The Bicycles‘ performance at the Music Series will be their triumphant homecoming show, after an extensive July/August Eastern Canada tour. The Bs have always balanced their rising national star with an unabashed love of playing wide ranging local community events (International Hug Day, the Bicycle Film Festival, BunchRocks, and more); their sunny and melodic tunes have endeared them to an equally wide ranging spectrum of fans.

No strangers they to Toronto’s theatre scene, the Bicycles have played music gigs at festivals like Lab Cab, numerous theatre fundraisers, and even been involved in Fringe shows like last year’s “Heartjob”. They’re also, to our knowledge, the only indie band around town with their own interactive DVD board game.

Hamilton, ON’s Young Rival may seem like newcomers, but that’s just due to a name change; they were formerly known as The Ride Theory.

This new incarnation has had recordings posted on influential music blogs like Pitchfork, You Ain’t No Picasso, and Stereogum, which described their demo as “smoothly dark, refined Zombies-esque pop with a great guitar sound“.

This show will be an important first for both The Bicycles and Young Rival, as the two bands will be touring together in October, so come on out and help them impress each other!

The Two Koreas are one of my new favourite bands that I’ve never seen live. Their new E.P. “Sessions EP” is fantastic. They are (self-dubbed) Toronto’s preeminent practitioners of jangular electric beat muzik. I’m not sure what that means, but, I think they may be right. (which is also why I like them)

Gentleman Reg is the newest member of the Arts and Crafts Label (see Broken Social Scene, Feist, Stars, etc). It’s not difficult to see why. His song writing and presence is both at once gentle while equally, and sometime alarmingly provocative. His new album is coming, and advance buzz is that it’s marvelous.

I want to take this time to start introducing you to the music at this year’s festival. We’ve got an INCREDIBLE line-up. When I say incredible, I mean, INCREDIBLE. Each and every one of these bands were on our “if only we could get <blank>” list at the beginning of the festival. And to our great joy, we’ve had an unprescendented series of “yes” responses, that have resulted in this beautiful line-up. Great credit is due to Evan Newman, who founded the Beaudelaire Label, and whose skills, reputation and respect helped us book most of these bands. The reputation of the SummerWorks Festival is also a major reason that so many of these artists have responded. This is the beginning of something really exciting, and we hope you’ll catch some music at the end of the day.

The first show is Matt Barber and Bob Wiseman. This is an really cool pairing.

Matt Barber is known for his ability to turn a room into a bit of a sanctuary. He’s a great songwriter who’s recently decided to go more intimate, leaving Warner Music for the Outside Music Label.

Starting off the night is Bob Wiseman. Many if not all of you already know Bob Wiseman. He is one-part genius, one-part mad man, one-part show-man. He’s as famous as is he infamous. So much can be said, but nothing can really match the experience of a Bob Wiseman show. He’s a glorious weirdo. You don’t want to miss this.

This is the first, in a series of posts introducing you to the SummerWorks Theatre Festival Staff.

I’ve asked everyone the same six questions.

The first person to be profiled is our Music Co-Ordinator, Evan Newman.

I met Evan at a NOW Christmas party. He had seen one of my plays and confessed to having been surprised at liking it. He told me that he felt like indie-rock fans would like more theatre, and wondered why/how to make that happen. When I got the position of Artistic Producer for the festival, one of the early-on things I did was grab a coffee with Evan and pitch him on getting on board to help create an opportunity for indie-music and indie-theatre to exist in the same setting. And thus, the Music Series was born. The Music Series could not have happened the way it has without Evan. Evan is the founder of the Baudelaire Label, and now works and manages with Outside Music, representing artists like Matt Barber, The Diableros and Sunparlour Players–all of whom are playing in the SummerWorks Music Series.

1. Who are you?

Evan Alexander Newman

2. Why are you doing here?

I was hoping you could answer that

3. What do you hope for the festival.

a massive love in between theatre and concert goers that results in a harmonious existence but not necessarily more musicals

4. What are you most interested in.

How Michael got those curls

5. What are you worried about?

that there might be more musicals as a result of the convergence of live music and theatre